Le pièce de résistance ...

Aircraft flight control system^†

... or just a load of crock? We shall see. In any event, the micro-teach part of the PTLLS course looms even nearer.

We were given our groups and dates for the micro-teach sessions yesterday. There are two groups with eight students per group. Four students from each group present their topics in week 1 and four in week 2. I am in group 1 in session 2. My own presentation is at 17:40–18:10 on 28 March in room B002. Whilst I do not know what topics everyone is presenting I do know we will have the pleasure of a session on mask-making (Debbie), be taught how to sing (Vikki), make some pottery (Jenny) and bath a baby (Karen).

I previously comitted to teach on one of four topics according to voting on my blog here. Voting has been fast and furious with a total of six people bothering to vote. Four voted for the successful take-off and landing topic so that is what my session will be.

My experimental lessons on my unsuspecting friends have revealed some timing and skill issues in the practical part of my session. The sample take-off phase has been performed well by my guinea-pigs. The landing phase has had very mixed results. I had originally thought I could help anyone land from 800 feet. Indeed I can but not without significant help from me which tended to leave the subject dispirited. The issue I have is that my friends, none of whom have any flying experience, all had difficulty maintaining direction. I have run out of experimental subjects so I have to make a decision.

Short-final Cambridge runway 23.^‡
Same view from 800'

I have thus reduced the height to 400 feet from which a successful landing will then occur. Hopefully, the student will not drift too far from the correct glide-path in this shorter time. The problem may of course be my teaching and not the student. I may be over-emphasising the need for good speed control without emphasising enough the need for good directional control.

This is a contrived teaching session anyway. In real-life, a student will have experienced a lot more ground and air lessons before being taught to land. The effects of controls for example would be an early lesson where the student learns that the ailerons are used to turn. We use left and right joystick movement in our simulator. In Thom (1997) the effect of controls is lesson 4a whilst powered approach and landing is lesson 13a. What was a surprise to all my guinea-pigs was that, in order to turn, the stick is not held in the direction desired. Rather the stick is moved briefly in the required direction and then returned to the centre once a bank has been established. To stop the turn, the stick is moved in the opposite direction briefly then returned to the centre. This is all counterintuitive and very difficult to get across in a five minute lesson.

I therefore have my work cut out here.

^†Animation 2006 Piotr Jaworski
^‡Simulation. Note the airspeed (70 knots), altitude (430 feet above mean sea level; approx. 400 feet above ground level) and on glide-path and on glide-slope. The airport buildings are to our right

Further reading
Thom Trevor, 1997. Flying Training. The air pilots manual. Volume 1. Airlife.
Langewiesche Wolfgang, 1944. Stick and Rudder. An explanation of the art of flying. McGraw-Hill.